Junk in the Trunk
by tricks-meuler
Summary: A skeletonized body turns up in the trunk of a car at a hit and run incident. A good friend of the entire team joins in to help. ZAOC. Complete in the sense that there isn't any more to come.
1. Chapter 1 Company

So basically, this is post second season, around the time of the upcoming third season. This is my first fic, so reviews would be appreciated in ridiculous amounts.

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I want to learn to play.

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Chapter 1: Company

The yellow sun of broad September daylight shone abrasively on the sleeping pair twisted up in cheap hotel sheets. A tangled, spooning, and very naked Zack Addy remained contentedly asleep under the glare of the 10 am sunlight.

Loud, persistent ringing began to emanate from the sleek, metallic cell phone sitting on the bedside table. Slowly the blonde mass of curls rose from the pillow, mumbling incoherently. Realizing that the surroundings were utterly unfamiliar, her bleary blue eyes snapped open. Beginning to understand the situation, she took a moment to appreciate her impromptu bedmate before proceeding to wake him.

"Zack? Babe wake up. Zack, your phone." She shook him gently and grabbed the phone from the table. Slowly rousing himself, Zack propped himself on his elbows and took the phone with a smile of thanks.

"Hello?" he croaked. He tried again, still groggy but a little more coherent. "Wh-? Oh, Ange, hey." He winced into the phone and the young woman lay down, curious how the conversation would pan out. "Yeah I'm really sorry, I slept in." Zack began to regain his composure and with it his preference for multiple syllables. "Look, I'll just check out of the hotel, and I should arrive in approximately twenty minutes." He hung up and flopped back down.

"So?" The blond smiled slightly as she rolled onto her side and rested her head on her palm.

"That was a colleague of mine, she and I were planning on surprising a few friends when I reappeared from my sabbatical unannounced, but I was due at the Jeffersonian two hours ago." He started to get up and paused. "'Manda, I'm really sorry to rush off, but…"

Amanda stopped him with the wave of a hand. "Don't worry about it. And I can check out too." She grinned. "Go show those crazy colleagues of yours how much you missed them."

"Thanks." Zack gave her a quick kiss and headed to the bathroom. With a contented smile on her face, Amanda Hodgins admired Zack Addy's ass as it retreated to the bathroom.

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Just a warning that my updating will likely be sporadic at best, but please review (any response is great response). If you don't think that it's worth continuing please let me know. 


	2. Chapter 2 Something to Hide

Good god, that was the most ridiculous wait for a chapter, possibly ever. I'm really sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long, I feel really bad!

(I own nothing.)

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Chapter 2: Something to Hide

Special Agent Seeley Booth paced impatiently on the Jeffersonian's main observation platform, which was filled with the museum's forensic team. "Angela, as lame as this sounds, I was really looking forward to a bit of this time without a case to put a dent in the pile of paperwork that's sitting on my desk right now."

Dr. Temperance Brennan nodded, "Yeah Ange, I'm halfway through the new chapter that my publisher needs for Wednesday and she'll be an awful lot happier if I get it in tomorrow instead."

Angela Montenegro wrung her hands a little. "I know guys, just give me like, another fifteen minutes." Dr. Jack Hodgins grabbed her hand discreetly to calm her down and stop her from fidgeting. _C'mon, Zack, please be on time_. She pleaded to herself impatiently.

"Oh my God!" Dr. Camille Saroyan exclaimed, and immediately ran down the stairs. Everyone turned to see their usually calm and composed boss tightly hugging Dr. Zack Addy.

As the reintroductions progressed, Angela tried not to tear up and noticed Brennan struggling with the same task. Her best friend turned to her, "You knew! That's why we're all standing here being unproductive!" Brennan was being admonishing, but couldn't help grinning from ear to ear anyway.

Booth went over to say "hi" to Zack, mentioning, "We missed you and your giant head." Zack started reaching up to feel his head to check that it was regular size, and then blushed sheepishly. Booth called out to Angela, grinning, "Thanks for making me stay, but I was serious about that paperwork." Then addressing everyone else as well, he smirked and quipped, "I'll leave you squints to it."

Amanda pulled out of the hotel parking lot; having showered, freshened up, and checked out, she was now humming along with the radio. She manoeuvred her bright blue 1990 Toyota Camry with the ease that comes with driving the very first car that you fumble through your driving lessons on, not that she'd been legally allowed to drive it for longer that two years. She headed onto the freeway, with the intent of getting a bit of local shopping done before she had to be at band practice. Maybe drop into a piercing parlour as well, she really wanted to get an industrial in her right ear. She followed the Southeast Freeway all the way down town and was about to make a turn, when she was thrown backwards with immense impact.

She stayed immobile for a second and then checked herself over mentally, ensuring that she wasn't hurt. Satisfied, she gingerly opened her door and stepped outside to survey the damage to both cars.

She was relieved to see that the offending Saturn had taken the worst of the impact, but was worried about the driver. She approached the passenger side of the silver sedan and leaned in a little. "Excuse me, sir, are you all right?" Amanda addressed the question to a middle-aged brunette looking slightly disoriented but otherwise quite alright. The moment her question sunk in however, his head snapped up and she was met with cold green eyes. There was a pause and he nodded slowly, opening his door and standing.

"I am very sorry," his voice was silky and deep and he kept his gaze locked on hers. "Are you quite all right?" Barely pausing for her to respond, he continued. "Here, let me call the police and report it." He flipped open his cell phone to call, and paused. "Actually, do you think you could flip the switch to open the trunk for me? I'll need some things from there once they arrive."

Amanda ducked behind the door of the car, most of the damage was to the front end, but the car none the less didn't look prone to start up again anytime soon. She fumbled around until she found the knob to pop the trunk. Suddenly there was the sound of a revving engine and Amanda looked up from the inside of the car just in time to see her beautiful blue Camry pulling away at top speed, and she realised that she had left the keys in the ignition. She sighed slowly, incredibly frustrated.

"And yet the day started off so well…" She mumbled, flipping her cell phone out and dialling quickly. "Yeah … uh-huh, I just wanted to report a hit-and-run accident in junction with auto-theft…" She ambled back towards the open trunk and let out a stifled gasp. "God, yeah I'm still here but you might want to add to that list the partially decomposed body of an adult … female."

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I apologise again for not updating frequently, but hopefully know that I'm back home updates might get a little more regular. I would absolutely love to hear anything that you have to say! 


	3. Chapter 3 Everyone's Past

Well, hopefully future updates will be a little more like this (no promises though). So….yeah, enjoy. (I don't own anything.) Chapter 3: Everyone's Past 

Booth pulled out of the parking lot of the Jeffersonian for the second time in twenty minutes. He hadn't even reached his office inside the J. Edgar Hoover building before he had been told by a frightened-looking secretary that Cullen wanted to see him. So now here he was, back with his favourite forensic anthropologist; not that he was about to complain about that.

"So Bones, the call was made by someone Cullen described as being 'an arrogant, annoyingly informative, young woman'. Sound like anyone you know?" He grinned as she swatted at him, continuing the playful exchange.

"Well I can think of someone, but unless there's something that you ought to tell me, he's a little too male." Brennan smirked as he glared at her and then refocused on the road. "So basically, until we get there we have nothing to go on."

Booth shrugged. "Basically," he conceded, "but it's just around the corner so it isn't like we have long to wait." As he spoke, they took a left turn and a large clump of people came into view. They pulled to a stop nearby and started getting out. "I should go talk to the local officer, do you want to start on the body?"

Brennan nodded, "Come over soon though, I'll probably need your help taking notes and stuff." As Booth headed over to the cruiser, Brennan walked to the trunk of the banged-up car where she could see a young woman standing near the trunk. The blond was wearing tight, well-worn jeans and an equally tight black t-shirt, and she was leaning over the trunk looking in, both hands behind her back.

An officer approached her slightly hesitantly. "Please ma'am, if you could just back off a little from the body, we don't want you contaminating evidence."

Amanda sighed, her patience exhausted. "For the love of God, I am not going to touch the body!" Temperance recognized that voice.

"Amanda?" Amanda whirled around.

"Brennie!" The two women hugged enthusiastically and the police officer looked disconcerted. While he had only met Dr. Brennan a handful of times, the only two things that he had ever seen her do were berating someone for touching evidence or flirting with her partner. "What are you doing here? Is this your crime scene? How are you? Ahh, Brennie!" Amanda expelled it all in one breath.

Brennan laughed. "Amanda, calm down. And you know I hate it when you call me that." Both women grinned. "Now help me process this crime scene, then we can catch up. Although even then you'll only be able to ask one question at a time." Amanda laughed and took the pen and paper that Brennan offered her. "Hmm, female, young adult, I see that you haven't forgotten everything." She smiled and Amanda laughed.

"What can I say, I learned from the best." Temperance grinned and continued her preliminary evaluation.

"Twenty to twenty-five year-old caucasian female, contusions and lacerations on her neck, along with a broken hyoid, ex-bulimic, competitive dancer and gymnast. Our pathologist will need to see her before I can get much more." She took her photographs of the body and began collecting the trace evidence directly surrounding the body as she spoke to Amanda. "So how have you been?"

Booth sighed, finally succeeding in tearing himself away from the over-zealous rookie who had refused to let him get back to his Bones. He turned to head over to where Bones was working and was surprised to see her leaning against the car, laughing with a young woman with curly blonde hair. As he approached he could hear a vaguely familiar voice carrying towards him.

"So all three of us dropped by my grandparents house in Pittsburgh because my parents were visiting from L.A. and I swear to God they almost dropped dead when they saw my tongue, nose and ears. It was priceless!" Brennan threw her head back and laughed, causing Booth to frown. He had only ever heard Bones laugh like that with him or the squints, and she rarely bonded immediately with people. "Oh, and you'd love Matt, exquisite structure and one of the sweetest boys you will ever meet. And then there's Alix, you would adore her, and her voice is absolutely phenomenal. Brennie, you have got to come see us!" Temperance chuckled. _Brennie, huh?_ Booth thought. That was something else this girl was getting away with, he decided that Bones had to already know her really well.

"I'd love to. Now lets go find my partner, I think that you two will get along quite well." Brennan draped her arm loosely over Amanda's shoulders, the obscene familiarity confusing Booth all the more.

His jaw dropped when the two women swung around to face him. "'Manda?"

"Seels!" Amanda squealed and then jumped into Seely's open arms.

"Or, you know, maybe you already know each other." Brennan hazarded sarcastically.

Seely put her down and Amanda grinned back at Brennan. "Yeah, before I moved into your place I was living with Seels."

Booth's jaw dropped and he looked from Brennan to Amanda and back again. "You dated Adrian Wells?" Booth's tone was incredulous.

Temperance looked from Amanda to Booth and back again. "Who?"

Amanda waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, just my old tutor. Remember, the one who dated Monty."

Brennan nodded, remembering. "Oh yeah, he was a bit moronic." Amanda laughed and Brennan turned back to Booth. "Actually, Adrian dated Angela, but how did you know and what made you think it was me?"

Booth looked dumbfounded. "Angela, like our Angela? Angela the kind of squint, Angela?" Brennan nodded as if he were the moronic one. "Ok? Um, I knew that Amanda was moving in with him and his girlfriend for the summer, I was unimpressed. I guess I didn't need to worry."

Brennan looked like she was about to say something, but then one of the federal CSIs approached them. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but can we move the car back to our lab now?"

Brennan nodded. "Yeah sure. Just send us the body and any information, you know - the usual." The CSI nodded and headed off to organize her own team. Brennan looked from Booth to Amanda. "Why don't we head back to the Jeffersonian, Angela will be excited to see you, Amanda."

The three paraded up the steps of the overhang to go meet Angela, but as Amanda twirled around to take in the full scope of the Jeffersonian, she backed into Hodgins. "Watch where you're – 'Manda?"

Amanda actually squealed. "Jacky!" Jack picked her up and twirled her around, hugging her fiercely. "I missed you so much! Oh my God!" Sighing, Booth and Brennan exchanged looks of disbelief. How many people did this girl know?

Booth spoke first, his brow slightly raised. "I take it that you two know one another."

Jack looked at Booth like he'd grown an extra head. Realising that Booth didn't get it, Jack pointed first to himself, then to Amanda. "Jack Hodgins - Amanda Hodgins. We're cousins."

Booth's eyebrows went higher. "Are you telling me that you're part of the Cantilever empire?"

Amanda smirked and shook her head. "I wish. No, our mothers are related; and that's the poor side of his family." Jack swatted at her and Amanda swatted back, but before it could get much further an authoritative voice carried across the lab.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what is going on?" Everyone turned around to see Cam standing at the bottom of the staircase, a folder in one hand and the other hand on her hip.

"Cami!" Once again it was Amanda who had cried out and, once again, everyone else looked confused.

"Amanda?" Cam exclaimed as Amanda ran down the stairs to meet her. "Oh my god, I mean, what are you doing here?" Cam laughed as they embraced. "You came back to the nation of patriotism and the NRA."

"Yeah well, I'm on tour with my band." She smirked. "Which happens to include Matt."

Cam grinned. "Congratulations! And I assume that you two finally hooked up and that you're more than friends."

Amanda laughed. "Nice try. We hooked up and even dated for a little while, but we broke up soon before we formed the band." Jack and Booth exchanged a protective look.

Camille cringed. "Awkward?"

Amanda shrugged. "You'd be surprised." A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Besides, we've both moved on; for example last night…"

"Whoah." Jack interrupted before Amanda could elaborate.

"Yeah, way too much information." Booth supplied as the three women smiled.

"Amanda Elizabeth Marie Hodgins! _What_ are you doing in Washington?" Every one turned to see Angela and Zack standing in the main doorway.

Amanda froze, and then made a split second decision. "Angie!" They ran across the room to hug one another, but Amanda kept her eyes on Zack. Their gazes remained locked until slowly, they began to smile: this could be fun.

"Amanda, how are you? What are you doing here? It's been what, two years?" Angela laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, and it's been way too long. I'm here because my band is on tour. How are you?" Sure, Amanda was pretending to be thoroughly involved in her conversation, but her eyes never left Zack.

"I'm great, but we have so much to catch up on!" Angela paused and looked around. "So it looks like you've met the rest of the team," Amanda smirked and shrugged, "but I don't think that you've met our other anthropologist, Dr. Zack Addy." Angela motioned for Zack to come over and the pair shook hands.

Amanda smiled politely, her eyes twinkling. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Addy."

Zack smiled back, just as politely. "You too Miss …" He paused and frowned, as if genuinely confused. "I'm terribly sorry, I don't recall your last name."

"Hodgins, but please, call me Amanda." Amanda was working hard to maintain the façade; Zack was being just a little too suave. But hell, to be entirely honest, it was hot.

"And please call me Zack."

Angela looked from one to the other, quite confused. Zack just seemed a little too confident. But hey, maybe Zack had matured more than she'd thought. She turned to the group. "Hey, it's eleven thirty, why don't we all head out for an early lunch. Everyone go get their stuff and meet back here in ten minutes?"

There was general agreement and Amanda added; "I'll just go take a pee."

"It's just over here." And Zack let the way in down a hall away from the group.

Please review and tell me what you think, and sorry for the spelling of 'Cantilever', but does anyone know how to spell it? I would hugely appreciate it if anyone could tell me.


	4. 4 Anecdotes and Amendments

So basically I just stumbled on this now and I'm willing to admit that I'm never going to finish it, so it only seems fair to offer you guys what I've got.

My sincere apologies and I hope you enjoy!

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Zack pulled Amanda into the spare conference room by the hand

They followed the corridor to their left; then, surreptitiously glancing behind them, Zack pulled Amanda into the spare conference room by the hand. He put a finger to his lips, but as soon as their eyes met, they both burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, that was probably the single most awkward thing that's ever happened to me in my life." Zack nodded emphatically as both tried to contain their laughter. "No," Amanda mocked, "I swear we've never met; although, wait a second, we did have that mildly drunken soul-bearing just last night, and rapidly followed by wonderful and enthusiastic sex." Once again they both burst out laughing. Amanda paused, "So, are you ok with us not telling them?"

Zack lifted a single eyebrow in response. "For sure, first of all they're my co-workers, they don't need to know about my sex life, second of all, I think that Hodg-uh-Jack and Booth might both just kill me." Amanda smirked.

"Yeah, I could see them going all macho protective on us." Amanda fidgeted, playing with her fingers uncomfortably. "There is kind of this new development to deal with." She made a vague kind of gesture at the air between them, and he waited patiently for her to elaborate. "I mean, no offense, but last night I never thought that I was going to see you again. And I'm not saying that I'm not glad to have run into you, but we kind of need to know where we stand…" She kind of trailed off unsurely, showing, for a change, her mere sixteen years.

Zack smiled gently and reached out to grab her hands. "Well, if it's ok with you, I'd like to… What I mean is that I like being around you, and not just to discuss semantics." He smiled shyly.

"So… would it be ok with you if we…" Amanda paused again, then plodded on. "Well if we kept having sex but didn't share that with any of our friends?" Zack nodded, fairly emphatically. "Good." Amanda kissed him. "'Cause I think that I like it this way."

Booth laughed heartily as Brennan blushed and poked him in the ribs. "It's really not that funny." She insisted, her brow creased in an embarrassed frown.

"Sure it is Brennie," Amanda smirked, "You just don't want to admit that you caved into peer-pressure and got baked with us."

"Whoa, whoa, let's just pretend I didn't hear that last bit." Booth seemed vaguely concerned that someone might actually hold him to his duties as a federal officer of the law.

Ignoring him, Brennan mumbled grumpily; "You're not even a peer, you were less than half my age."

Jack grinned. "Now if those words in that tone were coming from anyone other than the estimable Dr. Brennan, I would think that they were sulking."

Even redder than before, Brennan ground out her words with slow malice. "So Hodgins, do you want to tell everyone about that time that you got so inebriated at a family gathering that you threw up all over Amanda's father?"

"No! I mean how do you…" Jack trailed off, unable to come up with a suitable excuse.

"Children, children," Cam clapped her hands patronizingly as she grinned and shook her head at them. "As entertaining as this is, we need to order if we're ever going to get back to work."

"Spoil-sport." Amanda muttered, to everyone else's amusement.

Cam glared at her. "It's my job."

"But you looove it," Amanda retorted, "Feeling in charge makes you get all hot."

Everyone turned to Booth expectantly as Cam slapped Amanda lightly with the menu. "I … it's not … I …Waiter!" Booth spluttered.


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